Rockin’ the rock, and walkin’ the walk! Pick Of The Week goes to Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Moritat for All-Star Western #1 (DC)! Fast Five picks include The Savage Hawkman #1 (DC), Aquaman #1 (DC), Captain America & Bucky #622 (Marvel), Justice League: Dark #1 (DC), and The Flash #1 (DC). Spoilers!

No Pick Of The Week, but we do have a great Fast Five! Picks include Ultimate Avengers Vs New Ultimates #2 (Marvel), Hulk #30.1 (Marvel), R.E.B.E.L.S. #26 (DC), 5 Ronin #3 (Marvel), and Amazing Spider-Man #656 (Marvel).

Stay tuned at the end for a special WonderCon announcement!

Independent titles rule supreme! Pick Of The Week goes to Ben McCool & Nikki Cook for Memoir #1 (Image). Fast Five picks include G.I. JOE: Cobra #12 (IDW), Hellblazer #275 (Vertigo), Doctor Who #1 (IDW), The Boys #50 (Dynamite), and Locke & Key: Keys To The Kingdom #4 (IDW).

Also, none of the titles this week are under $3!

From Marvel Knights, the Book Of The Month for July is Sub-Mariner: The Depths written by Peter Milligan and art by Esad Ribic. This title is a must-have for any fans of Namor or eerie horror movies, because you get the perfect combination of both in this underwater thriller!

Stay tuned at the end for the contest!

Sub-Mariner: The Depths

Written by Peter Milligan

Art by Esad Ribic

Marvel

When I was younger, I used to love going to the beach with friends. Bring a beach ball, go body surfing, run along the sand, you name it. I got caught in a riptide once and taken out to sea, but it wasn’t long until lifeguards came out to rescue me. While I was drifting amongst the waves, I remember feeling afraid because I was out of my element. If something larger than me was nearby and hungry, I would turn into lunch rather quickly. Thankfully that wasn’t the case and I was rescued soon after.

It wasn’t until years later of traumatizing movies (Jaws) and television shows (Shark Week) that I came to the conclusion, “You know what? Fuck the ocean.”

With Sub-Mariner: The Depths from Milligan and Ribic, it drags me back out to the ocean like a riptide, and creeps me out the entire time just like a good horror movie would.

I think one of the main things I like about this mini-series is that Namor is and isn’t the main character; he’s the fabled being protecting the lost city of Atlantis, and yet we barely see him throughout. We focus more on the protagonist Dr. Rudolph Stein, famous debunker of myths and tale tales. This guy has proven with science that the Yeti isn’t real, an when approached by fellow scientists to go in search of Atlantis, Dr. Stein sees this as another notch on his belt of accomplishments and jumps at the opportunity.

But he’s not just descending 33,000 feet in a submarine to see if Atlantis is real or not, he’s also in search of Captain Marlowe, the man who has claimed to have discovered the fabled lost city.

On their way to the Marianas Trench, the crew tells Dr. Stein of Atlantis’ protector, Namor, and how they’re in his underwater realm now, and he’s so terrible that he was responsible for the sinking of the Titanic. Dr. Stein laughs all this off, for he is a man of science and doesn’t believe in all this nonsense.

However, just before reaching the outpost, Dr. Stein has a dream of a Namor-like being haunting him. The crew informs him that when Namor appears in your dreams, he has something special planned for you. Because of this, Dr. Stein goes a little loopy trying to make sense of it all.

When they finally arrive down at the Marianas Trench outpost, Dr. Stein and the crew discover a grizzly scene involving the remains of the men who lived there. Someone or something brutally murder the crew, leaving the place looking like a slaughterhouse rather than a research facility. The only evidence of what took place there was recorded on a single camera, confiscated and observed only by Dr. Stein.

All he sees of the monster is a winged foot.

Not wanting to stick around and see what did this, Dr. Stein and the crew continue further down into the blackness in search of Captain Marlowe and Atlantis. What they find is Captain Marlowe’s submarine, and more dead crewmen. The only survivor of the massacre is Captain Marlowe himself with proof that Atlantis exists.

Sure enough after viewing the film, Dr. Stein realizes that Marlowe has indeed discovered Atlantis, making everything he has worked so hard to prove false a possibility, and Dr. Stein can’t have that.

While Dr. Stein tries burning the evidence, he is discovered by Marlowe and the two fight. In the middle of their struggle, we finally see Namor in all his glory.

Within a blink of an eye, Marlowe is torn to shreds by Namor, and disappears as quickly as he appeared. Trying to confess to the crew that he himself killed Marlowe, Dr. Stein isn’t believed for a second. The crew knows who killed him, and demand to see Marlowe’s film.

Dr. Stein comes to the conclusion that now the film must be destroyed by any means necessary, even if it means killing the entire crew and himself.

So while in his moment of madness, he knocks-0ut the captain and pilots the submarine into a sea devil, tearing apart the vessel and any evidence as he escapes in a pod.

While it looks like he’ll die from lack of oxygen before reaching the surface, it appears that Namor does in fact still have plans for Dr. Stein as he makes sure he returns to the surface alive and in one piece.

Dr. Stein tells his fellow scientists that the fact he survived was no miracle, but simply being trapped in a pocket of air from the ocean floor. He then makes the definitive statement that Atlantis does not exist, and that Captain Marlowe and his crew died when they drove into that sea devil.

Only Dr. Stein knows the truth, and will take it to the grave with him. The world does not need to know that Atlantis does exist, and beings like Namor are more fact than fiction.

Peter Milligan really took me by surprise with this series, because I was so used to his stuff on X-Force with Allred. The story he tells truly is terrifying, because underwater was not meant for man, only fish. He introduces Namor only in the shadows, stalking his prey like a master predator before finally revealing himself for the killing blow.

Esad Ribic’s art just blew me away page after page! He really did an amazing job setting the dark, creepy tone of the book with the bright characters surrounded by darkness. To only see Namor in shadow rather than in focus is a lot more terrifying, because you don’t know exactly what you’re looking at while it observes you from a distance.

In closing, this book is easily accessible to anyone. It doesn’t take place in the 616 Universe, so new and old readers can enjoy a classic Namor story without having continuity get in the way. It’s what makes it so timeless, and an instant classic. If you like horror, if you like comic books, this is the perfect underwater thriller for any library.

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